Bear Lake 2011 - By Michelle

Every year I look forward to going to Bear Lake.  This has been a family tradition for years and years and I hope that it never ends.  This year was also one of those amazing years.  Our family is growing rapidly and there were over 50 people there this year.  I love spending time with my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins and their kids.  Everyone is always amazed at how close we are to our extended family.  It is because of my grandparents.  They have blessed us with so many fun times and memories with one another. 

This year the water was the highest it has been in a very long time.  Since the water was so high, the adult could enjoy watching the kids from the shady grass area while the kids played in the sand and water.  The weather was perfect.

This year I did not even get into the water.  It was really hard for me being pregnant and not being able to ride on the wave runners.  Nettie kept on telling me how much fun the waves were this year.  I guess I need to plan my pregnancies around Bear Lake so I don’t miss out on this kind of stuff anymore.  I was entertained by the children.  It is so much fun watching the little kids play together.  They truly are perfect!  They enjoy all of the little things in life.  They played and played in the sand for hours and hours on end. 

As tradition goes we have a talent night for all those that would like to participate.  Talents of all kinds are presented.  Anything from balancing babies in your hands, flipping little kids in the air, telling jokes, doing martial arts, singing, or even telling stories.  One of my favorites was Lizzy singing “For this is Love” to our grandparents for their wedding anniversary. Her voice is amazing. 

My dad read a story about dog poop.  All the kids loved it and enjoyed the fact that he brought a fake mold of dog poop to show everyone.

My mom made this special mixture of bubbles that you can touch and they won't pop if you are using mitten or gloves on your hands.  The kids thought it was the coolest thing to be able to gently bob the bubbles up and down in the air.  The whole week my mom was amazing with all the cool ideas for the little kids to do including making silly putty,  Easter egg hunt, and flying a solar air balloon.

One of the final events of the evening was a special game for the kids.  They each got to make a sword (swim noodle on the end of a plastic pipe) and the goal was to smash the water balloons that the boys had hanging  by their back sides.  The kids loved it and I think the boys did too.

The talent night was a success and it was hard to keep all the kids energy contained, but soon enough we got them tuckered out and ready for bed after a quick bath to wash all of the sand and sun screen out of their hair and off their bodies.

Here is the solar balloon my mom brought up with her.  We had to fill it up with air and then the heat of the sun would heat the air inside and cause the balloon to rise.  I hadn't seen it before and wasn't sure if it would work, but we got it to go pretty high.  It was one big balloon.

We of course spent a lot more time on the and in the water.  I know there are a lot of pictures, but it is hard to choose which ones to show and I think pictures make the blog and not so much all the words.

On Wednesday night we planned a special surprise gathering to celebrate both the retirement of my dad as well as the 62nd wedding anniversary of my grandparents.  They didn't have a clue as to what was going on.  Jill and Brian were nice enough to coordinate it and also get the guests of honor out and about so we could all meet up at the restaurant and be there when they arrived.

The food was great, but the company was even better.  Look at all the cute little babies that my family has had so far this year.  I wonder if there will be any more this year.  You would think we had had enough of each other already, but we enjoyed more time to talk and spend time with each other.

Here was the cake that we ordered from a small town about 45 minutes away.  We were lucky that there was one around and it wasn't too expensive.

Grandma and Grandpa Woolley, we love you and are so glad that you give us this opportunity to be together as one large family.  We cherish these moments and hope they will continue as long as possible.  Thanks again for the great time.